Postfire evaluation of fuelwood loss and restoration priority in a mixed, community-managed conifer forest of central New Mexico, United States

The causes and consequences of severe fires must be understood to strategically manage forest resources, including timber and fuelwood. Floods and resulting infrastructure damages are intensified due to soil erosion and debris exhumed by recently-burned catchments. A mixed Ponderosa and Piñon-Juniper forest managed by a rural New Mexico community burned in 2016, destroying harvestable fuelwood and damaging access roads. The objectives of this study were to: (1) estimate lost fuelwood value; (2) identify burned catchments that contributed to road damages; (3) develop criteria to prioritize a restoration area; and 4) recommend possible forest management actions based on assessment of fire regime, natural resource usage, ecological dynamics, and feasibility. Field reconnaissance facilitated image-based mapping of forest structure, burn severity, and early-successional recovery by 2018. High spatial resolution aerial images collected before fire were used to map tree density, as well as height based on shadow lengths and sun angle, and to infer stem volumes from empirical diameter-height relationships. Results suggest that 1.5–2.5 million USD of fuelwood was lost from a 1053-ha area. A remediation priority area (112 ha) was identified within a severely-burned, erosive catchment with limited successional plant cover. Econometrics and landscape-scale optimizations for restoration are proposed. Potential fire management strategies are outlined in order to maximize ecosystem products and services while enhancing safety. Techniques developed in this study – involving open-source data and minimal field work – may be useful to conifer forest managers with limited scientific funding.